Mike and Kimba Hart made that decision, which for them was initially financially motivated. Mike, an Army veteran, is a former emergency medical technician. He traded that fast-paced life for the more deliberate pace of bottles and books.

"I do sometimes kind of have baby brain," Mike said.

Danny Hart is nine months old and just started pulling up on things, so daily life for his dad is about to get a lot more interesting.

"Initially we did not realize how great it was going to be for our family and how well it would work," Kimba Hart said.

Kimba, an attorney, misses her time at home with Danny, but knows her husband is up to the task.

"I think Mike is just particularly patient," she said.

For Mike, it's business as usual.

"I don't see it as a big deal at all," he said. "He (Danny) loves going out to the store to the playground or whatever and he's actually a lot calmer, not to say he isn't calm but he's a lot calmer and sort of intense when he's out because he likes to look at everybody and everything."

Dads staying home with their children full-time may not be commonplace yet, but it's a lot more common than it used to be. Tulane University sociologist Michele Adams says times are rapidly changing.

"We've seen an increase in the number of stay-at-home dads that are willing to put themselves out there and say yeah I'm going to stay home and take care of the kids and the home," Adams said.

Since 1970, Adams says that number has climbed from just one percent to around 22-percent. Stay-at-home dads, in the true sense of the term, are not only more accepted in society they're also more accepting of the mother's role as the family's breadwinner.

"Now what we see is almost 30 percent of women make more money than their husbands do," Adams said.

The bottom line, according to Adams, is fathers, in general, are there now more than ever to read to their kids, feed their kids and help them with homework. That is a major positive.

"The more involved he is the better the outcomes for the kids," Adams said. "So it's not so much a matter of time as it is involvement."

Mike and Kimba agree.

"I think at the end of the day when her mom or dad come home he's still going to be excited to see them and happy he's had whoever he has home," Mike said.

"It's not something that works for a lot of families," Kimba said. "Just financially, I think we are really lucky that we're able to do it."

There are a lot more dads out there just like Mike Hart. Numbers from the Pew Research Center show the growth. Fathers who do not work outside the home.. living with a child or children younger than 18 numbered 1.1 million in 1989. In 2012, that number climbed to 2 million.

For all those stay-at-home dads, there is help. The National At-Home Dad Network provides advocacy, community, education and support for dads, both locally and nationally.